1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a testing device that is installed in a toilet for testing for components such as glucose, blood, protein, hormones, and vitamins that are contained in urine, and particularly to a urine glucose testing device.
The present invention further relates to a method of providing a home health care service that provides health care services to help an individual in his own home (hereinafter referred to as an “at-home patient”) to manage his or her own health using the testing device; and to a system for providing a home health care service to implement this method.
2. Description of the Related Art
In the following explanation, the terms “home” or “at-home” do not necessarily mean that the individual is in his or her own home. The concept “at home” may also include cases in which the individual is in a facility that is not provided for health care, such as the company or government office where the individual is employed.
Japanese Patent Laid-open No. 319647/96 proposes a toilet-installed urine glucose inspector device that has a urine inspecting capability to sample and analyze urine by using a toilet and thus aid in an individual's health check. This device relates particularly to a sampling device for sampling urine that an individual has excreted into a toilet for urinalysis, and more specifically, to a washing mechanism of a urine collection vessel.
In this sampling device, a urine collection vessel is attached to the end of a swing arm. When sampling urine, the urine collection vessel moves by the rotation of the swing arm from a rest position that is directly below the toilet seat to a sampling position that is inside the toilet [bowl]. Urine that is collected in the urine collection vessel is conducted by way of a urine tube and urine intake tube to a urinalysis device that is outside the toilet and then tested. After sampling the urine, the urine collection vessel returns by the rotation of the swing arm to the rest position that is below the seat, where it is washed by a washing fluid that is sprayed from a nozzle.
This urine inspector device has the following defects:
The separation of the position of the urine collection vessel from the location of the device that inspects the collected urine necessitates not only piping such as a urine intake tube and a urine suction tube, but in addition, a pump for drawing up the urine to the urine inspector and solenoid valves for controlling the introduction and discharge of urine to the urine inspector.
The device is therefore large, its mechanism is complex, its potential for breakdown is high, and its maintenance costs are high. The device has additional problems in that it requires a considerable amount of time for a urine test, it uses a large quantity of chemical agents, and it must hold a large quantity of water for maintain the interior of the device clean. This example is hereinafter referred to as the first example of the prior art.
Japanese Patent Laid-open No. 170512/98 describes a toilet with a urine glucose sensor capable of easily checking for urine glucose. This example is hereinafter referred to as the second example of the prior art.
This toilet is provided with: an arm, a urine glucose sensor advancing/retracting mechanism for advancing the arm to a prescribed position in the toilet and then retracting it; and a sensor section that senses urine glucose. The sensor section is attached to the end of the arm so as to allow easy removal. After excretion of urine, the urine glucose sensor is lowered and dipped into urine in a receptacle of the toilet. The urine glucose contained in the urine in the receptacle is then checked. After use, the sensor section is subjected to washing with water, application of protective fluid, and is then retracted to a housed position. The urine glucose sensor can thus be used repeatedly.
The problem with the second example of the prior art is that when urine is discharged, the urine mixes with water that normally fills the urine receptacle. The mixture ratio of this urine and water mixture is not always fixed. For example, the same individual may sometimes pass a large quantity and at other times pass a small quantity of urine. In addition, the amount of urine discharged each time may also be influenced by temperature or the individual's age, with the result that reproducible measurement values cannot be obtained.
Furthermore, the specification describes that, in order to obtain an accurate measurement value, it is preferable to eliminate water from the receptacle by performing operations such as first flushing to rinse out the urine receptacle and additional blowing with compressed air.
As a result, the urine sensor according to the second example of the prior art is capable of only an approximate check, and various drive units or additional mechanisms are necessary if an accurate check is desired.
Explanation next concerns home health care. Conventionally, methods of managing health at home have typically involved regular recording of the measurements of instruments that can easily be procured for home use such as a thermometer, scale, sphygmomanometer [blood pressure gauge], or body fat scale and then consulting a doctor if abnormal values occur.
For diseases such as diabetes, renal disease, and liver disease in which the morbidity can be judged based on the values of chemical components of urine, urine is collected in a provided container and then inspected at a hospital or health center.
Services have also been available as health care services on the Internet in which, through the input of qualitative data of an individual's morbidity and quantitative numerical data such as height, weight, and data from periodic medical examinations, possible diseases are automatically displayed along with a doctor's comments.
However, the above-described home health care methods and Internet health care services have the following problems.
First, an at-home patient will not seek a doctor's diagnosis or give an input to the Internet regarding his or her morbidity in the absence of symptoms that he or she notices him or herself. As a result, an at-home patient may neglect to receive a doctor's diagnosis if he or she is not conscious of symptoms. Even if the at-home patient is aware of symptoms, he or she may lack the medical knowledge to judge whether the symptoms call for a doctor's diagnosis and the patient may therefore fall to receive a doctor's attention.
A second problem, relating in particular to health care for a morbidity such as diabetes that requires urinalysis, is the inconvenience of having to go to a hospital or health center to have an inspection of urine. This inconvenience originates from the impossibility of checking for urine glucose at home. Furthermore, as is well known, urine glucose varies with the passage of time after eating or with an individual's physiological condition. The patient is therefore normally required to abstain from eating for a prescribed period of time preceding a urine-test when receiving an examination at a hospital or health center. Due to this inconvenience, there has been the problem that, for morbities that by nature require daily health care, no method has existed for health care other than yearly periodic examinations by the company or government office in which the patient is employed, or by the municipality.
The third problem is that, with regard to home health care services up to the present, it has been difficult to obtain, at home, sufficient and successive data required for health care for a morbidity. As a result, the at-home patient derives relatively little benefit relative to the difficulty entailed for input of the actual state of health of the at-home patient. There is consequently the problem that home health care services are not usually practical as a business.
It is an object of the present invention to provide a toilet-installed urine testing device that offers an improvement over the above-described first and second examples of the prior art as well as can provide easy, at-home urine testing over a period of time.
It is another object of the present invention to provide a home health care service employing the urine testing device of the present invention.